The Harbor Report: Predictions and 'unofficial' standings in boat racing

March 17, 2011|By Len Bose

The Newport Harbor Yacht Club-Cabo Race 2011 starts Friday and Saturday. The thought of not being able to attend it pounds at my head louder than a hangover and a bad mariachi band. In this column, I also have the results for the Newport Hi Point leaders and offer a couple of observations from the first 66 series at Balboa Yacht Club last weekend. Early H20 Spring Twilights at BYC started Wednesday off M mark.

Each year's Cabo race in March normally offers some of the best offshore racing in the world. If you are fortunate to start in a clearing westerly and have the spinnaker pole back before sunset, you are in for the ride of your life, and if you are really lucky, you are in Cabo before sunrise on Tuesday. I have not missed many of these races and, the last time I counted, I was at 29 races down the Baja Peninsula.

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I have a story for each race and this year's story looks like a good start and a slow finish, and that's how I am going to place my bets. If you are keeping track of my bets this season, I am three out of eight so far. In the recent Island race I picked Pendragon VI to finish first, Grand Illusion in ORR, Horizon in PHRF C. Amante was only 15 seconds out of first place in PHRF D.

My Cabo pick to finish first is Bella Mente, hailing from Newport, R.I. This is not an easy pick because I prefer betting on the local team. Something tells me that a Reichell/Pugh design and a boat that has been on the race course for some time has the advantage over a newer boat. IRC B looked to be a close class and everyone was looking forward to seeing Dr. Laura's new Kernan 46 Katana take her first stride on the race course.

Rumor has it she was not given an IRC rating because the boat has composite stanchions and IRC indicates stanchions must be stainless. In IRC B I want to place my bet on "Criminal Mischief," although with the light wind finish I am going to have to go with the Santa Cruz 70 Grand Illusion.

In Class C, I am going with Horizon again until someone can step up and beat Jack and the Hippy. In Class D, my money is on the New J 111 Invisible Hand because, even just sitting at the dock, the boat looks fast. My overall bet is on the first to finish boat Bella Mente. Follow the race at http://www.nhyccaborace.com and click on the iBoat track button. You can also follow the race on the NHYC Cabo 2011 Facebook page.